International panel to discuss "Designing for Sustainability Now" as part of SCAD's Style
(SAVANNAH) Denis Blackburne, Chief Financial Officer of Melaver, Inc., will take part in the panel discussion Designing for Sustainability Now May 16 as part of Savannah College of Art and Design's Style.
The discussion is open to the public and will be held at 7:30 p.m. May 16 in the SCAD Student Center, 120 Montgomery St. in Savannah. For more information call 525-5225 or visit http://www.scad.edu/scadstyle.
Blackburne will speak with the founder and Managing Director of Architects Without Frontiers, Esther Charlesworth, and the Zimbabwean graphic designer Chaz Maviyane-Davies. This international panel will explore the notion of sustainability as an environmental, economic, social and cultural necessity rather than as an optional luxury of the wealthy. As the debate regarding globalization intensifies, designers of products, messages, services, and built environments are playing a larger role in the shaping of the global landscape. Such actions require an ethical foundation, and a diligent mindfulness regarding potential repercussions on the human condition and the natural world. The panelists will discuss how individuals who possess the ability to imagine and execute socially just ideas can work across disciplines to initiate positive change.
As CFO of Melaver, Inc., Blackburne brings a wealth of financial and business expertise to Melaver, along with an international background in complex financial transactions. He does all the things one would expect of a company's CFO: he is responsible for the ongoing management of the company's financial division and oversees overall financial strategic planning, as well as relations with the financial community, investors, and shareholders. With Martin Melaver and Colin Coyne, Denis is a third member of Melaver's Senior Management Group, coordinating the efforts of brokerage services, while contributing actively to the visioning and implementation of Melaver, Inc's growth strategies.
Blackburne's unique ability to understand all business aspects of a transaction, including market and sustainable implications, brings uncommon strength to the CFO function. Before joining the Melaver team, he spent more than 20 years in senior financial positions with both publicly traded companies and family owned businesses. He has served as VP Finance for the Tetra Laval / Tetra Pak Group in Switzerland, Singapore and Chicago, and as a high level financial analyst with DuPont de Nemours in Geneva and London, and as a financial manager with Dow Chemical.
Blackburne graduated from Geneva University majoring in Business Administration and Marketing. He received his MBA from the JL Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.
In 2007, Blackburne was newly elected to the Board of Directors of Southface Energy Institute in Atlanta. In Savannah, he serves on the Finance Committee of the American Red Cross and the Loan Committee of the Small Business Assistance Corp., and is a board member of the CFO Controller's Council. He is on the Board of Trustees and Assistant Treasurer of the Historic Savannah Foundation. Blackburne has been a featured speaker at conferences on the value of triple bottom line accounting and reporting practices. He is LEED 2.1 accredited.
Melaver, Inc. is a third-generation, family-owned business based in Savannah, Georgia. The company recently received the Business of the Year award from Buy Local of Savannah for its local commitment to designing environmentally responsible projects. The company developed one of the first LEED certified buildings in the U.S. that is also on the National Historic Register. It has also developed the first all-retail LEED shopping center in the country, Abercorn Common, including the first LEED McDonald's in the U.S.
Contact: (912) 236-0781
www.melaver.com